How much does the new Model 3 cost? With Tesla, that’s kind of like describing the weather: the current conditions are no guarantee of the future. Tesla prices tend to oscillate for no apparent reason (read: the whims of its mercurial CEO), so what you see on their site today may not be the same as you see tomorrow. The base model, as of this writing, is the rear-wheel-drive standard-range version, which costs $40,640 including destination and order fee. Above that lies the long-range dual-motor all-wheel-drive Model 3, which starts at $47,630. The default on the Tesla car configurator shows $33,990, but don’t fall for it: that’s with “Probable Savings,” which fudges the number by including things like the amount of money you could save on gasoline. Tesla The Model 3 is not currently eligible for the $7,500 federal tax break for EVs — the sole model that was eligible was the Performance trim, and that’s not offered in the facelifted version yet — but we’re betting that Tesla will file for recertification very soon, assuming the new model meets the latest criteria. State-by-state incentives may be available to further lower the price, as well. (Tesla’s website is very helpful at serving up this information to help buyers figure out exactly how much they’ll have to pay, all the way down to including state sales tax.) Why is the Model 3 so important, again? In a nutshell, it’s the car that made Elon Musk the richest man on the planet (or one of them, depending on the week). When the Model 3 launched back in 2016, it was effectively a make-or-break proposition for Tesla — and for a while, it seemed as though the needle was bending towards break. The Model 3 was the brand’s first mainstream model, coming in far more affordable than the luxury-market Model S and Model X, and orders came streaming in faster than the company could handle, sending the company spiraling into what Musk called “production hell.” (It got so bad, Musk even reached out to Tim Cook about selling the entire company to Apple for a song.) But with hard work, grit and a Teflon stock price, Tesla powered through the hardship and landed the Model 3 — fixing problems as they sprung up along the way, as is the brand’s fashion. And it’s worked out well: as of 2023, the Tesla Model 3 is the best-selling EV in the world and the 12th best-selling car in America last year, with around 233,000 units being sold. Since the car was announced, $TSLA has gone from around $15 a share to $234 as of this story — and taking its CEO, who owns what Wall Street refers to as “a metric shit-ton of shares,” from a net worth of around $11 billionto a Scrooge McDuckian $212 billion as of January 2024. Yet perhaps the Model 3’s biggest success story in the U.S. is, from a profit standpoint, its Model Y sibling. Created as, effectively, a crossover variant of the sedan, it’s become an even bigger hit than the Model 3 here, outselling even the likes of the Honda CR-V and Toyota Camry. No wonder Musk felt cocky enough to buy Twitter. Who would have ever thought in 2004 that this humble 33-year-old multimillionaire would grow up to become … y’know. Paul Harris